9:11 PM,
Oct. 4, 2013

Ralph Sandridge of Melbourne is facing a 1,000 percent increase in flood insurance on this home he owns in Haines City in Polk County.

Written by

Wayne T. Price
| FLORIDA TODAY

Ralph Sandridge of Melbourne said he had no idea what was in store for him after he and his wife purchased a second home a year ago in Haines City, about a 90-minute drive away.

The home was in a flood zone and Sandridge was required to purchase flood coverage costing about $762 annually.

He was never told the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 had been passed three months earlier in July of 2012. The goal was to keep the National Flood Insurance Program solvent after an onslaught of claims from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. ...